


A Holiday How-To

by DJClawson



Series: Theodore Nelson's Adventures in Sharing a Workspace [30]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Drugs, F/M, M/M, Minigolf, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21660391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJClawson/pseuds/DJClawson
Summary: Theo can't decide what's worse - his meddling parents or flying with Matt.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Karen Page, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson/Marci Stahl, Matt Murdock/Theo Nelson
Series: Theodore Nelson's Adventures in Sharing a Workspace [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1202407
Comments: 24
Kudos: 56





	A Holiday How-To

**Author's Note:**

> All hail the mighty beta, LachesisMeg. All hail.

Theo had never had so many Thanksgiving invitations in his life. He couldn’t tell if he was cursed or blessed.

Every year previously he’d gone out to Long Island, to someone’s house (usually Uncle Timmy and Aunt Jeanie’s) for a large gathering. It wasn’t necessarily as big as major family events, but folding tables were needed to extend the one in the dining room, and it was an exciting day when he graduated from the separate kiddie table in the living room and got to use real glassware. 

But now his parents were in Tampa, and he couldn’t imagine them doing Thanksgiving alone, no matter how many friends they’d made in their condo. He also had an offer from Grandad and David, which would be the easiest meal gastronomically, but they admitted they usually went to a neighbor so he would just be joining them for that, and the novelty would be having him there in general. Finally, he had an invitation from Danny Rand, who was throwing a “laid-back” version of the meal in his and Colleen’s dojo, which would probably involve a dangerous combination of drinking, superpowers, and magic weapons. Matt had an invitation too, so that would be easy for both of them.

Because he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with Matt. 

They hadn’t taken any vacations together. Christmas barely counted, when they were barely a couple. And Matt wasn’t very domestic. The only reason he had a Thanksgiving meal to attend all these years was because of Foggy. Despite his ordinary day job, Matt didn’t do a lot of things people did with other people unless it was required of him. So Theo hadn’t asked. He didn’t want to ask too much of Matt. 

So he asked someone who knew Matt better than he did.

“Of course he’ll fucking go,” Foggy said. “If you want him to go, he should go. He’d better.”

Theo looked down at his shoes, resting the beer on his knee. “I’m not sure about it anyway.”

“Mom and Dad have known for months. He can’t hide from them forever.”

“I’ve never done this. I’ve never brought - anyone to anything. Except for Carly, and that was a fake relationship, and it was only for a few hours.”

Foggy, seeings that Theo’s feelings were justifiably complicated, got up from the tiny table in Theo’s apartment to get the whiskey down. “You know I was terrified of bringing Marci to the shop? I thought they would pounce on her and put something on our relationship that wasn’t there yet. And I’m not gonna lie, they totally did.”

“I remember.”

“But it didn’t scare Marci off, and I think they respected that. And they  _ know _ Matt.”

“But they don’t know what it’s like to be me!” Theo shouted, startling both himself and Foggy. “My life has not been - you know, normal. It’s different. Everything is different. Just because I can get married doesn’t make everything the same. I’ve never even had a boyfriend this long! I don’t know how I feel about it and I don’t want them to tell me how to feel. I’m not you, Foggy. I’m not ... ” He searched for the right word, but couldn’t find it, “Conventional.”

“Is this because I cut my hair?”

“Yeah. But also - look at you. You’re a success. You’ve had your ups and downs getting where you are but you’ve got a real job now that makes money, and a nice apartment, and now you have a fiance, and you’re going to get married and have babies. You’re just - you’re gonna be normal, Foggy.”

“Well, fuck,” Foggy said, pouring them both glasses of whiskey, even though Theo wasn’t done with his beer. He took a long breath as he sat down across from him. “Theo, listen - you’re normal. Compared to most of the people I hang out with, you are painfully ordinary. And even if you weren’t, it wouldn’t matter. You’re still  _ you _ and everyone loves you for it and that’s all that matters. Mom and Dad loved you when you went vegan, they loved you when went off to do the engineering thing, they loved you when you came back to work in the shop, they loved you when they figured out you were gay and too scared to tell them, and they loved you when you told them. Yeah, they’ve got an idea of how things could be, and they think we should settle down and get married and have kids because that’s what made  _ them _ happy, but it doesn’t have to be what makes us happy, and they just have to learn to roll with that.”

Theo didn’t realize he was tearing up. It was embarrassing. He wiped his eyes quickly and said, “Yeah, okay.”

“I mean that. And if you need backup on this, I’m there. I should probably go to Florida anyway, so someone can actually finish off the turkey you carve. I spent all of the Jewish holidays with Marci, so I think we’re free for the secular one.”

“You went to the meal at the end of the fast day.”

“Yeah, because I wasn’t fasting and because it was awesome. So much cheesecake,” Foggy said. “And I ate in the hut thing. Sukkot? Sukkah. I think it’s sukkah.”

“You gotta get that right.”

“Yeah, I know.” Foggy grinned. “Me and Marci - we’ve got your back. And Matt’s got your back. Because he should.”

Theo was amused that Foggy was more critical of Matt’s behavior in the relationship than anyone else, including Theo himself. “Thanks, man.”

  
  


Before bringing it up to his parents, Theo had to tell Matt. He decided to build himself up by drinking Matt’s beer at Matt’s apartment, just to shake things up, and because his liquor bill was getting kind of high and Matt had just given him a key and all and he had a nice couch. Theo couldn’t help himself, though, and stopped on the way to buy a stepladder and a whole bunch of lightbulbs, because Matt was terrible at replacing them, though he could hardly be blamed for  _ that _ , Theo thought, as he got a little bit tipsy after replacing all of the burned and dimming bulbs with more efficient ones, even though step ladders and alcohol was a bad match - but he was a Nelson, and he could hold his booze.

He was on about his fourth (whatever, full stomach, man) when Matt came in, and stared nervously at him in the hallway. “Did I do something?”

“Come with me to Florida for Thanksgiving,” Theo just spat out. 

Matt took a seat opposite him as he set his briefcase down and said, “I’ve never even been on a plane.”

“They’ll still let you on,” Theo replied. “I bet we’ll get to ride in one of those carts.”

“They have carts?”

“They’re like golf carts, but for more people? I always thought you had be a dignitary or something to be bussed to your gate. Airports have gates and they’re far away because planes are big.”

Matt rubbed his forehead. He hadn’t said yes yet. 

“Foggy said it would be okay,” Theo said. “But he always says that.”

“He’s usually right.”

“And we can go hang out with Karen and Frank. She invited me.”

“Do your parents know Karen’s boyfriend is Frank Castle?”

“No,” he said, taking a long gulp as it sank in. “ _ Fuck _ . Fuck fuck fuck, no they do not. Aw, fuck. Because they’re totally going to invite them to dinner and they don’t know.”

“They took the Daredevil news pretty well.”

“They know you. They love you like a son,” Theo said. “And they think Frank tried to kill Duncan and you stopped him and you let them believe that, Matt. Fuck.” And his beer bottle was empty. Great. “You have so many secrets. I used to only have one. It was a big one but it wasn’t hard to keep track of.”

“Technically,  _ we _ have so many secrets,” Matt said. That was cute of him. “I’ll tell them about Frank, if you want. If Karen doesn’t want to do it herself. But it shouldn’t be your responsibility. You’re not sleeping with him.”

“The porn guy is not very convincing. Your guy is too hairy and Castle’s is not hairy enough. Is it bad that I know that?”

“You have a life,” Matt said. “Do we fuck?”

“No, not that I’ve seen. But I’m not watching the Daredevil stuff anymore; it’s way too weird for me. He does fuck a lot of like, fake mob people, with gold chains and bad Italian accents.”

“On second thought, I don’t want to know this.” Matt got up and walked into the kitchen, to very reasonably get a drink. “You were supposed to say you stopped watching the Daredevil stuff because you have the real thing!”

“Shit, that was definitely what I was supposed to say.” Theo put his head back. It wasn’t even that nice of a couch, but he was enjoying spreading out for once. “Please come to Florida with me. We can get high at the beach. Can you swim?”

“Usually when I swim, I’m severely wounded, but I think I can manage just this once without any of that.” He walked back over and stood over Theo. “Why do you want me to go to Florida?”

“Because ... you’re my boyfriend. And this is my vacation and we don’t take vacations, because I have a shop to run and you have muggers to punch, and I’ve never been in a relationship this long, and I feel like we should. Because I want to.”

That wasn’t as clear and coherent as he wanted it to be, but there it was.

Matt leaned over and kissed his head, then returned to his own chair. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, I will go to Florida with you, and stay with your parents, and go to the beach, and we will go on a double date with Karen and Frank.”

“Don’t say that; we’re not in high school and it’s not the 50’s. But - you will?”

“Yes. I will,” Matt said, “because you want me to. But I’ve never done this before, either.”

“We can go to your mom’s next year if you want.”

“I don’t want to eat mushy peas and processed cold cuts with the other orphans.”

“I can’t believe orphanages still exist!”

“Technically it’s a group home now.”

Theo decided that this went pretty well, and that he was a little drunk, and that he was in love with his boyfriend. 

  
  


Foggy called and said he had a talk with their parents, whatever that meant, about Thanksgiving, and how they had to be on their best behavior, especially when Foggy realized he and Marci couldn’t make the trip work because she had to be back at work that Friday morning, so they were going to her parents’ house after all, and Foggy was eager to make the best impression on them before the wedding, so he was excused from the trip. He also broke the news that Karen was dating the Punisher, and their mother’s response was, “Well I guess we have to invite him to dinner too, then.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Foggy told Theo. “I’ve got your back. In spirit.”

“You did this over the phone so I can’t punch you, right?”

“Your punches were never hard,” Foggy said, and hung up.

Thanks to Foggy’s prep work, the conversation with Mom was full of assurances that things would be cool, in so many words. 

“We are so happy both of you are coming,” she said. “We knew the trundle bed would be a good investment. It’s not a big place, but it was affordable. And there’s always room for more inflatable mattresses. They make such nice ones now. Our neighbors use them when their grandkids come down. And the couch folds out if the two of you want to - “

“The guest room is fine!” he shouted unintentionally. “It’s fine. It’s all fine.”

“Oh, and we found a decent butcher. I mean, decent for Florida. So we’ll have a good turkey. You don’t have to cook, but,” she lowered her voice to add, “I would appreciate if you insist on carving again.”

“I thought Pop was doing better.”

“He is! But it depends on the day. So just be prepared to help.”

“Of course, Mom.”

“Not that I ever doubted you would.”

Matt, as the date approach, was being a little pussy about flying, which was how Theo thought about it without actually saying it. Foggy expressed his deep regret at missing the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen being defeated by cabin pressure and insisted on seeing them off the night before with pre-congratulatory drinks. “They sell booze in the airport.”

“It’s expensive,” Theo said. “Why can’t some people take a Xanax like the rest of us?”

Matt grunted in his corner but said nothing. Matt never took any medication - except antibiotics - so Theo supposed it had something to do with his senses, but he didn’t ask. Matt deserved  _ some _ of his secrets. 

Despite the hour that they got into Tampa, and Theo’s insistence that they didn’t have to, his parents insisted on meeting them at baggage claim. Matt shifted from exceedingly grumpy and a little tipsy after the flight (that he described as “infuriating” after swearing that he was going to find a boat home) to his cool mask where everything was chill and he was happy to see them and not at all still nauseous and regretting this and their whole relationship, though that wasn’t actually implied, just something Theo imagined he might be thinking.

“It’s so  _ flat _ ,” was what Matt said of Florida as they stood in the parking lot, waiting for Theo’s parents to figure out which pocket they stashed their ticket in. “And ... “

“Not smelly?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Matt looked legitimately confused by everything. Theo found it adorably cute. 

Maybe Matt hadn’t explained the extent of his powers, or maybe Mom figured that a jetlagged, disoriented version of Matt might actually need some help orienting himself in their new space, because she helped explain the layout of the condo to him, and yes, they had a pullout couch if they didn’t like the beds in the guest room (No thanks MOM), and did he need anything, and how happy she was that they both came. Since Matt still looked like he wanted to throw up, Theo insisted he take the top bed, and Theo take the one that pulled out and laid on the ground next to him. But the moment his parents’ door was closed, Matt slipped down and they very tightly squeezed together on the twin on the floor, which didn’t work well even without a cat between them, but it worked enough for the moment, because Theo could tell when Matt needed some cuddling, even if he would never admit it.

“I love you,” Theo said. “Even if you bail after the flight home so you never have to do this again. I’ll understand.”

“Lie,” Matt mumbled. “And I’m biking home.”

“Can you ride a bike?”

“I’m sure I can figure it out. I rode a police horse once.”

“How did you - “

“It’s a long story,” Matt said, even though it undoubtedly boiled down to ‘I was Daredevil and being stupid.’ “Go to bed.”

“Good night. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Theo barely registered that, but it was enough to make the whole trip worth it.

  
  


By the time they woke, Mom and Dad were already cooking, because that was what they did when they had guests, and no amount of retirement could shake them out of that. It wasn’t going to be a big meal and Karen said she was bringing dessert, but that didn’t stop them. Having been slammed at work with holiday orders, Theo wasn’t particularly motivated to do much of anything. He walked around the block with Matt to show him the sights - the 7-11, the KFC, and the three used furniture stores. It was pleasantly warm after such a cold autumn in New York. Matt continued to be amazed at all of the quiet and the open space even thought this wasn’t exactly a rural area.

“People get high in this park,” Matt said as they sat down at the tiny park near the apartment complex. Matt seemed surprised that not literally everyone in Florida lived on the beach. 

“Yeah, like my dad.” 

“That explains all of the cheetos bags in the trash bin.”

Theo laughed. “We have to go to the beach. Have you ever been to a beach?”

“I went to Coney Island with my dad,” Matt said. “It was a rough place then. I cared more about the rides. And the food. I must have eaten so much crap that day.”

“Only once?”

“Saturdays and Sundays were fight days,” he explained. “They were work days for him. But he wouldn’t train in the morning because he was resting up, so we had some time together. And Sundays we went to church. He said he had to apologize to G-d for fighting on Sundays.”

“Is that why you go?”

Matt smiled. “No. And I try not to fight on Sundays.”

“You are so weird.”

“You love it.”

“I do.”

They returned in time for the end of the Macy’s Day Parade and then the dog show. Matt had watched TV with the Nelsons before, but it was always Foggy who provided the commentary, so they all pitched in, telling Matt which dogs were cute, which ones looked like freaks of nature, and which handlers were the best at running in heels. Because he had his glasses on, they didn’t even notice when exactly Matt fell asleep, but he started snoring during the terrier group, and no one moved to wake him. They moved to the kitchen instead, where Theo did the heavy lifting of trays and platters even though they both insisted he not work on his vacation.

“Poor dear,” Mom said as she glanced over at Matt again.

“He does work two jobs,” Theo said, and then to his mother’s look, added, “I like to  _ think  _ of it as two jobs.”

“As long as he makes time for you.”

“He makes plenty of time.”

She gave him another look, but didn’t continue that line of questioning. 

They had time for a Skype call with the family in Long Island, who were also setting up for the meal, and sometime after that, Matt finally woke, sheepishly straightened his clothing and made his apologies, and disappeared into the guest room to shower. 

They all had time to get ready before Karen and Frank arrived, looking adorably domestic with a covered dish that turned out to be an apple crumble. Or Karen looked domestic, and Frank looked - well, less like the Punisher and more like an ordinary guy with a beard a little too long for the Floridian heat. He had a nice smile on his face that properly disarmed Theo’s parents.

“Hey Re - Matt.” He nodded to both them. “Hey Theo.”

“You two know each other?” Mom asked.

“We met once, after I came back from India,” he explained. “I wanted to thank him for - doing his thing, but not doing his more extreme thing. It was just a couple minutes.”

“He didn’t have to thank me,” Frank said. “But he’s a nice guy like that.”

“Of course he is,” Theo’s father said proudly. “Well, everything aside, we’re happy to have both of you. We’re used to much larger meals.”

They sat down at the table, and after saying grace, Mom broke out with, “So - how did the two of you meet?”

Theo managed not to burst into laughter partially because he didn’t know how they first met, but Karen hid her smile and Matt looked exceedingly amused.

“As your lawyer, I recommend you not answer that question,” he said to Frank.

Frank, being Frank Castle, was unafraid. “I went to the hospital to see someone,” he said to Theo’s parents. “Karen was in his hospital room. We talked. She seemed nice.”

Karen put her face in her hands. Theo’s father giggled but also stuffed his face so he didn’t have to speak.

“Then I was arrested and went to jail, and I broke out and was in hiding, so that put a damper on things,” Frank said. “It took me a long time to work up the courage to ask her out.”

That could _ not _ have been the story, but okay, Frank. Theo would give him that. He leaned over and whispered to Matt, “Is that guy dead?”

“Yeah, Frank was convicted of his murder.”

Theo  _ slooooowly _ leaned back and put a whole vegetable pattie in his mouth. 

“Frank was very sweet,” Karen felt compelled to add. “He eventually won me over. But it helped that he got pardoned.”

And he went right on killing, but that went unsaid.

“So,” Theo’s mom said, “when are you two going to settle down and start a family?”

Theo laughed so hard he almost choked on his food.

  
  


The whole meal wasn’t grilling Karen and Frank, of course, but it cut the tension, and they didn’t ask too much about what Frank was doing with his time now - they did know he was a bodyguard - or if he was “hanging out” with Matt, as Theo liked to think of it rather than what it probably was. Pop told some embarrassing stories about Theo and Foggy’s childhood, because of course he did, but nothing too terrible, or Theo was slowly getting loaded enough not to care. Only Frank wasn’t drinking at all. The apple crumble Karen and Frank brought was actually applesauce and granola, and Theo ate a ton of it. At some point he ended up on the couch with his dad and the disposable aluminum pan on his lap, and Karen and Frank said their goodbyes. Theo recovered enough to help Matt clean up in the kitchen so his parents could relax, and they both agreed that all things considered, things went pretty well.

“Frank has a pet name for you,” Theo said. “ _ Red _ .”

“I wouldn’t call it a pet name,” Matt replied as he took the next plate from Theo to dry. “He’s called me lots of things.”

“Is it because of the costume?”

“Yeah, I’m told it was red,” Matt said with a smirk. “Maybe calling someone ‘Daredevil’ to their face is just too silly. And for the record, the name was Brett’s idea.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I left it open for him to decide. And I didn’t make the helmet, either. That was all Melvin.”

“Whatever. You love being scary and dramatic.”

“That’s a coincidence.”

Theo kissed Matt on the cheek, then went back to the sink for more dishes.

  
  


On Friday morning, Mom drove them all to the beach, so Theo and his father could get high and Matt could stand nervously by the water. Like many things in Florida, he seemed baffled by it. The fearsome Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, unsettled by coastline. He got wet up to his knees and called it; he didn’t want to deal with all of that salt on his skin. It was obvious he couldn’t quite get his bearings out in the open with the rushing waves and wind, like he could in a building or in familiar New York, so Theo didn’t push him. Matt was being a good sport, even when Mom was fussing over him, chiding him for not owning shorts or a bathing suit. But the sand he fucking loved. He leaned over in his beach chair and ran it between his fingers. Theo resolved to buy some sandcastle supplies for next time. 

By the afternoon, they were ready for a break from Theo’s parents, and his parents were probably ready for a break from them, so Theo borrowed his mother’s car and met up with Karen and Frank at the promised miniature golf course.

Matt, who had never played miniature golf before, was fucking incredible at it, to the surprise of no one. He could even keep track of which color-coded ball was his by smell. And he didn’t need to, because he always got a hole-in-one, even if the course was specifically designed to make it impossible. At one hole, he ignored the main green entirely and bounced his ball off the wooden wall meant for people to lean on. That wasn’t even part of the course. What the fuck, Matt.

The only real competition was who was going to come in second, though after the first six holes it became obvious that maybe years of military training had been good for Frank’s motor coordination and reflexes, so it was down to Theo and Karen. 

Karen owned him.

“I fucking hate all of you,” he said as he uselessly recorded the scores. 

“I’m a WASP. I’m supposed to like golf,” Karen said as some kind of consolation. “We weren’t a golfing family. We didn’t own clubs or anything. But the rich people around us - golfing in the summer, skiing in the winter.”

Theo looked at Matt and said, “Tell me you’ve never been skiing.”

“I’ve never been skiing. But I could probably handle it,” Matt said with his good-natured smugness. “I am good with heights.”

“You people!” Theo threw up his hands. “What am  _ I _ good at?”

“Cooking.”

“Cooking.”

“Cooking.” Frank added, “Karen brings me sandwiches. They’re amazing. And those momos. Even reheated they’re still incredible. And didn’t you use to design spaceships?”

“There was a difference between what I was supposed to be doing and what I was actually doing at my Dilbert office job,” he clarified, but he did feel a little bit better. And Matt  _ did _ have superpowers that helped him pull off his stunts. “No one knows that. How do you know that? It’s like the last thing people know about me.”

Frank shrugged. “Karen told me.”

Theo wondered when he had come up in casual conversation, but decided not to ask. He couldn’t picture a casual conversation with Frank Castle until he realized he was having one right now. This guy was so ... ordinary. In a good way. 

“You also handle Danny Rand,” Matt said. “That’s a whole skill unto itself.”

“I was curious about his Friendsgiving,” Karen admitted. “But we were already going away. And I asked Foggy if you were catering it and he said no way, you’d sworn that off forever.”

“There’s a reason.” Theo looked directly at Matt. “Gangsters with machetes.”

Matt waved it off. “Everyone made it out fine. And now you feed your cat off a silver platter that he paid for.”

“Wait, that thing is real silver?” Karen said. Theo just shrugged.

They went out for dinner afterwards, though none of them could eat very much because they were still recovering from the day before. Matt tried to not make too many jokes only he and Frank would understand - they definitely had a lot of shared experiences that were not shared with other people, and Theo felt the jealousy rise in the back of his brain, but he clamped it down when he realized that if Matt was interested, he would have made a move long ago. And while Frank and Karen were trying to be chill about it, they were definitely in love. They were crazy for each other. They fit in weird ways he didn’t fully understand it wasn’t his business to understand. 

He could totally see them settling down and having kids, but then he remembered that Frank had already lost one family, so maybe he wasn’t rushing into that again. 

“Frank likes you,” Matt told him at the end of the night, which hadn’t exactly gone late. “He thinks you’re good for me. And he can see why someone would want to protect you.”

“I wasn’t actually looking for the Punisher’s approval, but thanks,” Theo replied. “And I guess I should just call him Frank.”

“He goes by Pete when he’s out with Karen in New York. That’s the name your parents are giving the rest of the family if they ask. ‘Karen brought her boyfriend Pete.’”

“We need a flowchart for all of these secrets.”

Matt was nonplussed. “I’ve overheard enough at Nelson family gatherings to know that everyone’s got their own flowchart.”

Theo figured that was true.

On Saturday they spent a lot of time at the condo’s tiny pool, which Matt was much happier to try out, but he didn’t like having his head underwater. “All I can smell is chlorine,” he said when he came back up from his single dunk to get his hair wet. “It’s blinding.”

Theo was going to say that you were supposed to close your eyes before going under, but stopped himself just in time. That wasn’t what Matt was talking about.

They had inner tubes, so they just hung out in those, enjoying floating in water.

“Have my parents been talking about us?” Theo asked against his better judgement.

“Of course.”

“Do I want to know what they’re saying?”

Matt, who had drifted, swam a little bit closer. “They think I’m good for you, but that I’m going to get myself killed. Or I’m going to get exposed and you’re going to be implicated. They’re not mad about it - it’s more like they’re concerned for your future more than mine. And I’m not offended by it.”

Theo didn’t chide him for evesdropping in this case. After all, he had asked. “Mom has been on me about that. She has this idea of what a perfect boyfriend for me should be. Obviously, it’s not one who gets hurt a lot. And you do get hurt a lot.”

“I’ve gotten better at it. You should have seen me when I was still the masked man in the news. I was bleeding through my suits at work and hiding it from Karen and Foggy.”

Theo flinched. “Gross.”

“Sorry.”

“Mom - maybe she didn’t have a lot of relationships before Dad. And now Foggy’s getting married, and he wants kids. So she’s in that mode. She wants something perfect and permanent for me. But nothing is perfect and everything is impermanent.”

“I think those meditation classes are really good for you,” Matt said. 

“I just wish she understood that.”

“My mom understands me  _ too _ well sometimes,” Matt admitted. “So we’ll call it even.”

  
  


As Foggy had promised, there were no confrontations about the status of their relationship by Theo’s parents, or their plans for the future. Mom restricted herself to a few polite asides, which was really saying something. “As long as you’re happy together,” she said, probably not meaning to sound as cryptic as she did. 

“The first time Foggy brought home a girlfriend, she was ready to bolt. She couldn’t sit still the whole meal. I’ve never seen him leave for the movies so fast,” Pop said to Matt. “And it was Foggy’s first real date, so he was nervous, too. If only they’d been old enough to drink.”

“ _ Edward! _ ” 

“Foggy was so straightlaced. He wasn’t getting high all the time like Theo. He thought his incense was working but it wasn’t. But we decided not to say anything as long as his grades were good and he didn’t screw up at the register.”

Theo wanted to disappear into the couch, which was not a new feeling for him.

“You do any drugs, Matt?” his dad asked, in a completely non-judgmental way.

Matt returned the favor with an honest answer. “I did what I had to do to get through high school in an orphanage.”

Mom gave him a look that Matt couldn’t see but Pop just smiled. “Understood.”

So nothing went horribly wrong, but that didn’t stop Theo from letting out a heavy sigh of relief when they sat down on the plane. He put his hand over Matt’s. “Thank you for doing this.”

“You’re welcome, and also, I am never flying again. Do you know how many people on this plane have an airborne illness?”

“No, and I don’t want to know. And I didn’t just mean the flight. I meant everything. I know it was a lot.”

“Your parents have always been nice to me,” Matt said. “I didn’t expect that to change. I was happy to do it.”

Theo kissed him. He kissed his boyfriend on a plane - in public, in front of people he didn’t know, after surviving a thanksgiving vacation with his parents. 

And he wasn’t afraid.

The End


End file.
